The removal of atmospheric contaminants in industrial, commercial, or residential environments is a problem that is becoming more serious each year. Environmental control agencies are implementing increasingly stringent regulations to control emissions, and it is hence becoming more important to comply with environmental emissions standards. Current processes for the removal of atmospheric contaminants include incineration, adsorption, impingement, electrostatic attraction, centrifugation, sonic agglomeration, and ozonization.
Soil contamination is another environmental problem that is of great concern today. In particular, the removal of contaminants such as organic compounds and heavy metals from the soil is the focus of much research. The contamination of groundwater and, ultimately, drinking water is the driving force behind the extensive research being conducted in order to remove toxic and hazardous contaminants from the soil.
Numerous techniques for the decontamination of soil are disclosed in the art. One approach involves the excavation of soil followed by treating the soil with additives and chemicals to remove the contaminant. Another method involves the addition of additives or chemicals directly into the soil in order to convert the contaminant into a non-leachable form. The contaminant is rendered nonhazardous, and is not removed from the soil. Still another method to treat excavated soil is in situ soil remediation. This process involves contacting the soil with an aqueous extraction solution, directing the extractant solution through the soil so that the extractant solution interacts with the contaminant, and collecting the extractant solution containing the contaminant.
Another serious environmental concern is contamination occurring in aqueous-based solutions. In particular, disposing of wastewater is not only very expensive and time consuming, but also extremely harmful to the environment. Some areas of concern in the disposal of wastewater include negatively charged metals such as arsenic, molybdenum, and chromium; positively charged heavy metals such as copper, cadmium, nickel, lead, and zinc; and contaminants such as ammonia, mercury, arsenic and iron which react with oxygen.
Chemical procedures have attempted to cause a predetermined reaction between chemical additives and impurities contained within the waste stream. The most common reactions are designed to cause the impurities and the chemical additives to coagulate, wherein the particles increase in size and then separate by either floating on or settling below the treated water.
Physical procedures are designed to achieve similar results as chemical additive procedures, but to a lesser degree of purity in the final aqueous solution. Filters and centrifuges are the most common physical procedures employed to remove contaminants from aqueous solutions.
More cost-effective and efficient materials and methods are needed to remove contaminants from the air, water, and soil. The present invention discloses such materials and methods.